Right now, the Biden administration is pushing forward efforts to industrialize our oceans by speeding the construction of harmful, offshore finfish farming facilities across the country. During his presidential campaign, President Biden promised a science-first approach to protecting the environment, so why aren’t we hearing more about how his administration is doing the opposite right now?
Offshore finfish facilities cram thousands of fish together into massive net pens, creating breeding grounds for disease and parasites. Worse still, the pens allow pollutants like excess pesticides and untreated fish waste to flow into the surrounding waters, contaminating the ocean ecosystem and contributing to harmful algal blooms (also sometimes called “red tides”), coral die-offs and other disasters.
The Biden administration’s efforts to expand development have flown under the radar for too long. That’s because, rather than taking action, Biden has allowed a Trump-era executive order to promote development of these facilities to stay on the books. By sticking with the status quo established by Trump, Biden has essentially given federal agencies the green light to speed development of factory farm facilities, without attracting the kind of mass opposition that would follow if there was a more public approach.
In that context, massive corporations try to drown out environmental experts and coastal communities who have opposed offshore finfish farming for years. For instance, a recent Pew Trust Stateline article highlights the industry’s calls for easier permitting of facilities, without acknowledging the pros and cons of different methods of production. In fact, there seems to be active “bluewashing” of all aquaculture as beneficial, when really, like nearly every other industry, there are safe and sustainable approaches, and harmful ways to operate. The article does note a few potential risks of offshore fish farming, but only in the broadest strokes. Far more weight is given to the supposed ‘economic potential’ of the industry–even though fishermen and coastal communities who rely on healthy ecosystems stand to lose the most from the growth of this destructive industry.
The article doesn’t discuss the importance of thorough environmental reviews in the permit process. Right now, there are plans to try to streamline and speed up permitting with little, if any public and other agency oversight and input. Places like Louisiana, Florida, California and Hawai’i are all slated for rapid permitting sites.
Pew’s piece does explain some of the more sustainable ways to cultivate kelp and shellfish in farms, but there’s a big difference between growing seaweed and building industrial sites to raise various finfish. Fish can easily escape their nets and intermix with wild fish populations, spreading new parasites and diseases and outcompeting the wild fish for food, habitat, and mates. And while some kelp and oyster cultivation can provide filtration benefits for the coastal waters, finfish facilities only pump more pollutants into the ocean.
Fortunately, we have better options to raise finfish, from investing in the small businesses and independent fishing families who steward our coasts, to empowering Indigenous communities to harvest seafood in traditional ways, to building smaller, land-based recirculating facilities. We don’t have to resort to fast tracking permits for industrial offshore operations that sacrifice the environment to feed families and grow our economy. This short-term exchange will only worsen the climate disasters and food insecurity problems we face in the future.
Hopefully, when equipped with these facts, national thought leaders like Pew will learn to follow the lead of the grassroots advocates, Indigenous leaders, small business owners and environmental experts who fiercely oppose industrializing our oceans.
It’s time for the Biden administration to follow suit, too, and revoke Executive Order 13921 promoting offshore finfish aquaculture to protect our oceans for generations to come.